China recycling ban could have repercussions in Wilton

By Pat Tomlinson

Updated
3:59 pm EDT, Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Wilton resident Johnn Psaltos dumps recyclable material at The Wilton Transfer Station Thursday, July 26, 2018, in Wilton, Conn. The Wilton Transfer Station could be negatively affected by a ban on contaminated recyclables in China. less

Wilton resident Johnn Psaltos dumps recyclable material at The Wilton Transfer Station Thursday, July 26, 2018, in Wilton, Conn. The Wilton Transfer Station could be negatively affected by a ban on contaminated ... more

Wilton resident Johnn Psaltos dumps recyclable material at The Wilton Transfer Station Thursday, July 26, 2018, in Wilton, Conn. The Wilton Transfer Station could be negatively affected by a ban on contaminated recyclables in China. less

Wilton resident Johnn Psaltos dumps recyclable material at The Wilton Transfer Station Thursday, July 26, 2018, in Wilton, Conn. The Wilton Transfer Station could be negatively affected by a ban on contaminated ... more

WILTON — The market for recyclables has been flipped upside down worldwide, and the ripple effect could have real economic consequences in Wilton.

China, which has been the biggest importer of recyclables on the planet since the 1990s, announced last year they would stop accepting an array of recyclables from around the world due to a glut of material that has been increasingly contaminated with garbage.

According to industry reports, the situation has become so bad that one-fifth of the recycled material sent to China for processing was contaminated. In April, when China said it would stop accepting a slew of items, it also set a super-low contamination rate, .5 percent.

Now, recycled material is stacking up in warehouses and getting trucked to landfills or incinerators around the United States and other countries around the globe, and municipalities worldwide are getting stuck with the bill.

“These actions have created major problems,” wrote Chris Burney, the director of public works and manager of all town facilities, in a memo to the first selectwoman.

Before, Burney explained, towns like Wilton could sell their recyclables to contractors like City Carting. However, nearby municipalities are now having trouble re-negotiating their contracts in light of the China ban.

Though Wilton should not see the adverse effects of China’s ban this year, next year could be a different story.

For instance, last year, Stamford received $95,000 for its recyclables. This year, the city needs to pay a company $700,000 out of its contingency fund to take them.

New Canaan recently re-negotiated its contract for recyclable disposal, which resulted in a $100,000 increase its annual costs for the town.

Similarly, Wilton, which is already losing more than $300,000 a year at its transfer station, could lose an additional $100,000 when it signs a new contract at the end of the year.

While things could change by the time the town’s contract expires, First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice is preparing for the worst.

“We will be speaking with other area communities to investigate solutions that might work for the both of us, as all municipalities are facing the same issues,” Vanderslice said.

Eleven towns in western Connecticut, including Ridgefield and Redding, belong to the Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority, a regional governmental waste management and recycling authority. Though Vanderslice admitted that the town hasn’t looked into the agency, it is reaching out to other municipalities for possible solutions.

As the town seeks out potential fixes, it is taking steps in the interim to limit town-wide consumption.

At the July 23 Board of Selectmen meeting, Vanderslice urged residents to be more conscientious of their waste output.

“The obvious solution for this is for everyone to take personal responsibility for their own actions and reduce the amount of their personal waste now that China doesn’t want to be the receptacle for everyone’s trash,” Vanderslice said.

Additionally, the town is seeking to educate its residents on what can and cannot be recycled in order to cut down on contamination.

“We know that people generally misunderstand the rules of recycling and that increases the amount of unsuitable recyclable product,” Burney said.

For example, Burney pointed out that pizza boxes can be recycled, but if there is a small amount of food on the cardboard, it is not recyclable. Metal and glass drink cans are recyclable, but the see-through plastic bags that are sold as “recyclable container disposal bags” are not recyclable. Most metals are recyclable, but metal coat hangers are not.

To further educate residents, the town’s Environment Affairs Department will be working with the Keep America Beautiful program to develop a multi-week awareness campaign in the lead up to National Recycling Week in November.

Some town entities have already made strides toward limiting their consumption.

The Wilton Board of Education, which is a large producer of trash and recyclable products, is one such organization. Last year, Middlebrook teacher Heather Priest launched a Zero Waste Initiative, a program that focuses on food donations, composting and a single-stream recycling system to limit waste.

In the upcoming months, Burney and Priest will be working together to discover what other opportunities exist to reduce not only recyclables, but the schools’ total waste stream as well.